MOON! by Stacy McAnulty & Stevie Lewis Beams Brightly

Last week I texted Stacy McAnulty because I heard the most amazing news!

Stacy, I just learned your new book MOON! will be on Elon Musk’s next SpaceX rocket. How did you arrange to be the first picture book in space?!

Ha! Wouldn’t that be something. I love seeing my books in stores and in libraries. Knowing it’s in space would be amazing. Yet not as amazing as seeing MOON in the hands of young readers. Astronauts and aliens are welcome to read my books, but I do write for kids.

OK, so your book isn’t going to the moon, but other objects from earth have…and have stayed there to form their own colony! How on earth did a pair of nail clippers get left on the moon?

I wish I knew! NASA has a list of what’s been left behind, but they don’t include the why. And since there’s no weather (no wind, rain, snow, etc.) on Moon, the objects could technically be right where the astronauts left them. However, with hardly any atmosphere, Moon is pummeled constantly by space rocks (asteroids, meteoroids). There’s a chance things have been destroyed by impact—including the nail clippers. If the next astronauts brought back those nail clippers, I wonder what they’d go for on eBay. They probably belong in the Smithsonian.

Now that’s an auction to break the Internet!

In your book, Moon and Earth are besties. But what if we had two natural satellites instead of the one moon—would all three be best friends, or would there be a lot of push and pull between them?

Earth is certainly capable of having multiple best friends. She’s so kind—she lets us live here after all. But I can imagine Moon being slightly jealous of another natural satellite. Moon’s life revolves around Earth. Literally. She’d be a little bummed to share that spotlight. Luckily, Moon doesn’t have to share. Unlike Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, and Uranus, which all have multiple moons. Moon is a one and only!

We know Moon has many different phases. What do you think is Earth’s favorite look for her BFF?

Full Moon for sure! We get to see her whole, beautiful face. But we don’t want to phase-shame. Moon looks gorgeous all the time. Earth and I agree on this.

Do you have a favorite moon fact that didn’t get into the book?

I learned about synchronous rotation: Moon rotates on her axis and revolves around Earth at the same rate, approximately 27.3 days. That means we see the same face of Moon. I do talk about this in the book, but I never get to use the term “synchronous rotation.” It’s such a nerdy-sounding phrase. I love it. “I suffer from synchronous rotation.” Also, here’s a fun-fact that didn’t make the cut. Moon is moving farther away from Earth at a rate of one inch per year. Bye-bye, Moon!

No, no, don’t go away Moon! I mean, Moon probably likes to get away, but with her best friend. Do you think Earth and Moon like to go out and do cool things together? Like sing karaoke?

Oh, yes! They’d very much be into karaoke! Who isn’t? Their song would have to be a duet. Maybe “I Got You Babe” by Sonny and Cher. That works!

OK, kidding aside, you made this entire non-fiction series so fun for kids—by letting Sun, Earth and Moon narrate their own stories. How did you discover that unique angle?

Like all great discoveries, it was by accident. Sort of. I like to tell the story of Earth’s birth when I visit schools. Before I wrote Earth, I wrote a story about a pet rock. It was fiction like everything else I’d written to that point. In the manuscript, this pet rock lived with numerous children for thousands of years—going from caveman times to today. I shared this pet-rock story, and my critique grouped hated it. But what I realized through their candor, was that I wasn’t writing a story about a rock but about Earth. She’s been here a long time and us humans are pretty new. So I penned a story about our planet, and from the first draft, I knew it had to be narrated by the star of the show, Earth! (Of course, Earth is not technically a star.) When I tell this to kids, I always ask, “Was that pet-rock story—that unpublished story that only lives on my hard drive—a failure or a step in the process?” They always give the right answer.

Those kids are so smart! Thanks for chatting with me about your newest book, Stacy.

“We know Moon has many different phases. What do you think is Earth’s favorite look for her BFF?

Full Moon for sure! We get to see her whole, beautiful face. But we don’t want to phase-shame. Moon looks gorgeous all the time. Earth and I agree on this.”

Oh my goodness, ladies, I had such a blast reading this. I hope I get to meet you someday, but if not, can you ladies PLEASE do a sitcom, omg I’d watch it all day!😂

Stacy, I adore that your passion to make learning playful just shines here and Tara, wonderful questions! I was literally just thinking, oh I need to buy Stacy’s moon book for the bday girl at the end of the month, whenever my daughter plays with her, she LOVES pointing out the moon, then under this blog post—serendipity strikes again!❤️

I love that you made a group of stories about sun, earth and moon. These are great go to books for teachers teaching about moon phases in elementary school. There is Mae and the Moon and some others out there but to have 3 related books is great. I saw you interview about writing about the Sun and loved your research and take on it. Did you attempt your own illustrations?